ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AP) -- Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.

Most of Guam's native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on Guam now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines.

More than 3,000 miles away, environmental officials in Hawaii have long feared a similar invasion — which in their case likely would be a "snakes on a plane" scenario. That would cost the state many vulnerable species and billions of dollars, but the risk will fall if Guam's air-drop strategy succeeds.

If this is carpet rather than precision bombing, because hitting a snake on the head with a dead mouse from even a few hundred feet up has got to be tough, they're going to need a hell of a lot of mice.

First, picturing this is gruesomely amusing. Picturing someone confronted with the rain of dead mice who hasn't heard about it in advance is even more so.

Second, how long do you suppose it will be before someone figures out how to smoke and/or snort mice?*

*Edit: Bummer. On actually reading the article carefully, I see the painkiller in question is just acetaminophen. No high snakes or mice-pipes. Just a new headache remedy. Take two mice and call me in the morning.

If this is carpet rather than precision bombing, because hitting a snake on the head with a dead mouse from even a few hundred feet up has got to be tough, they're going to need a hell of a lot of mice.

There has to be a better way to deal with this problem. Dropping poisoned mice? Really? Every other hungry animal on the island is as likely to eat the bait as the snakes are. OK, I see they are adding mini-parachute like things to hand the dead mice in tree branches. Adds comedic value.

Why not pay a bounty for dead snakes? Let the locals solve the problem and earn a buck in the process.

There has to be a better way to deal with this problem. Dropping poisoned mice? Really? Every other hungry animal on the island is as likely to eat the bait as the snakes are. OK, I see they are adding mini-parachute like things to hand the dead mice in tree branches. Adds comedic value.

Why not pay a bounty for dead snakes? Let the locals solve the problem and earn a buck in the process.

The bounty idea is okay, but within a week, you'd have people setting up clandestine snake farms.

So they are going to save the birds by dropping poisoned mice into the trees? Are these mice going to have little signs around their necks reading "Snake Food Only!, to stop the birds from gobbling them up?

So they are going to save the birds by dropping poisoned mice into the trees? Are these mice going to have little signs around their necks reading "Snake Food Only!, to stop the birds from gobbling them up?

Hey, read the thread. Lots of people have already answered this question.

I'm glad they are doing something. The loss of the birds in Guam is a real tragedy, and if we were to lose more Pacific island species it would be even worse. I hope this campaign is successful.

There has to be a better way to deal with this problem. Dropping poisoned mice? Really? Every other hungry animal on the island is as likely to eat the bait as the snakes are. OK, I see they are adding mini-parachute like things to hand the dead mice in tree branches. Adds comedic value.

Why not pay a bounty for dead snakes? Let the locals solve the problem and earn a buck in the process.

They've been dealing with this forever, so its probably a pretty safe bet that pretty much any solution that occurs to you after thinking about the problem few minutes has already been considered and tried. Unless airdropping mice with small parachutes stuffed with pain-killers occurs to you, in which case that hasn't been tried, but that oversight will be remedied shortly.

That was my first thought as well; I know that many reptiles and amphibians only eat (or even see; their eyes only really see movement) moving prey. I have kept toads as pets before and they only eat something that is moving (not necessarily alive), although perhaps this isn't a problem if the mice are dangling from the trees and moving in the wind.

"I always get the shakes before a drop. I've had the injections, of course, and hypnotic preparation, and it stands to reason that I can't really be afraid. Plus, I've been stuffed with enough acetaminophen to kill a capybara, so I'm already dead. But the fact is: I'm scared silly, every time."

I heard about this years ago, and the damage these snakes do is pretty horrible. I was going to say "nuke 'em from space" but then I realized that's probably the one thing that could actually be harder on the ecosystem than the snakes. Maybe.

Pfff... silly, they just need to set up a state-of-the-art passenger screening system in the airport and the snakes will be discouraged from air travel altogether.

It won't work. What discourages passengers are things like emptying their pockets and taking off their shoes. Snakes, by and large, don't wear shoes, or have pockets. They'll breeze right through TSA checkpoints.